Glossary

annotation board

A variant on Matt Wright's WWWBoard, requested by a sociology professor for a seminar class.  Annotation boards allow users to post documents and have other users insert comments directly into the text (in the form of footnotes), thus allowing group editing or reviewing of the document. [Example]

 

flat file

An ASCII text file that usually means the contents of a database table saved in plain text format for conversion to another database. Each row is one record from the database. A table of 35,000 students would take 35,000 lines in a flat file, assuming all the variables were output in one line.  The example below has each field separated (or delimited) by the "pipe" symbol "|".

00F|102048200|F|01:00P|01:50P|PERLOFF|1102
00F|102107200|F|12:00P|12:50P|MG|201
00F|102401200|F|09:00A|11:50A|MG|133
00F|102445200|F|09:00A|11:50A|MG|201
00F|104305201|MW|02:00P|03:50P|KINSEY|141
00F|104840200|F|12:00P|02:50P|BUNCHE|3150
00F|105870200|M|02:00P|04:50P|ROLFE|3106

 

roster-authentication

This is a system for allowing access to password-protected class materials only to students who are enrolled in that class.  ClassWeb's database can keep track of student ID numbers and passwords (both assigned by your institution), and then match requests for access against the ID numbers and passwords of students officially enrolled in that class.  Class materials that the instructor desires to protect behind passwords need to be kept in a common directory for each class, usually "../private/".

 

ssc

Acronym for Social Sciences Computing, the unit at UCLA that developed and operates ClassWeb.  Also, "sscnet" refers to UCLA's Social Sciences Computing Network.

 

server-side

Refers to a type of software accessed via the Internet and that resides on the computer server of the web site, rather than needing to be downloaded and run locally on the client's computer.

srs

SRS is the 9 digit unique code for each class at UCLA. Together, term and srs are the primary keys (unique identifiers) for most of the class tables in ClassWeb's database.

 

tar file

This is the download file that contains all of ClassWeb's contents, including the directory structure.  This bundling of all of the ClassWeb files together is convenient for downloading because the relative location of the of files in the directory structure is maintained, and it is quicker than downloading them individually.

 

template

Refers to a web page template that applies to all ClassWeb pages on our (or your) server.  ClassWeb generates web pages for individual files that are based upon a common template, and thus are exactly alike in terms of layout, style, etc.  The differences between ClassWeb sites are due to the course specific information that the page "calls" from our (or your) database.

 

term

A term is the same as an academic quarter. UCLA is on the quarter system. Four quarters per academic year. A term is also one of the main keys in the class data tables.   Most universities operate on a semester system, with two per year plus the summer.   ClassWeb can accommodate both schedule types.

 

webtech

UCLA supports faculty utilization of class websites not only with centralized computer services units (such as SSCNET, HUMNET, etc.), but also with student workers (usually graduate students) that operate in specific departments.  Webtechs are these decentralized advocates for getting faculty familiar with their class websites, and helping them upload course materials to those site for their students.

ClassWeb Open Source Main Page / UCLA Homepage / UCLA Social Sciences Division / Social Sciences Computing

Copyright © 2002 UC Regents and UCLA Social Sciences Computing.
Last updated on September 16^th, 2003.